Slut

A SlutWalk protest in New York marching against victim blaming and slut-shaming^[1]

Slut is a term applied to an individual who is considered to have loose sexual morals or who is sexually promiscuous. It is generally pejorative, and is most often used as an insult, sexual slur or offensive term of disparagement (slut shaming) against girls or women.^[1][2][3] It originally meant "a dirty, slovenly woman,"^[3] and is occasionally used to refer to men, requiring the clarification term of male slut. However, there have been attempts to "reclaim" the word for girls and women, and some individuals embrace the title as a source of pride.^[4][5]

Etymology and common usages

The common denotative meanings are a sexually promiscuous woman,^[2] or "an immoral or dissolute woman; prostitute."^[3] These definitions identify a slut as a person of low character—a person who lacks the ability or chooses not to exercise a power of discernment to order their affairs, similar to terms used for men, such as a cad, rake, or womanizer. The adjective slutty carries a similar connotation, but can be applied both to people and to clothing and accessories, such as Halloween costumes.^[6] The lack of a comparably popular term for men highlights the double standard in societal expectations between males and females.^[7]

Although the ultimate origin of the word slut is unknown, it first appeared in Middle English in 1402 as slutte (AHD), with the meaning "a dirty, untidy, or slovenly woman".^[8] Even earlier, Geoffrey Chaucer used the word sluttish (c. 1386) to describe a slovenly man; however, later uses appear almost exclusively associated with women.^[8] The modern sense of "a sexually promiscuous woman" dates to at least 1450.^[8]

Another early meaning was "kitchen maid or drudge" (c. 1450), a meaning retained as late as the 18th century, when hard knots of dough found in bread were referred to as "slut's pennies".^[8] A notable example of this use is Samuel Pepys's diary description of his servant girl as "an admirable slut" who "pleases us mightily, doing more service than both the others and deserves wages better" (February 1664).^[9] "Slut" and "slutishness" occur in Shakespeare's comedy As You Like It, written in 1599 or 1600.^[10] In the nineteenth century, the word was used as a euphemism in place of "bitch" in the sense of a female dog.^[8][11]

Additional meanings and connotations of the term are negative and identify a slut as being a slovenly and ugly person, for example, as in these quotations from OED2:

Hearne, 1715: "Nor was she a Woman of any Beauty, but was a nasty Slut."

Shenstone, 1765: "She's ugly, she's old, ... And a slut, and a scold."

The attack on the character of the person is perhaps best brought together by the highly suggestive and related compound word, slut's-hole, meaning a place or receptacle for rubbish;^[12] the associated quote provides a sense of this original meaning:

Saturday Review (London), 1862: "There are a good many slut-holes in London to rake out."

Alternate usages

On June 4, 2011, hundreds gathered at the Alberta Legislature grounds in Edmonton, Canada, to protest against prevalent blaming-the-victim attitudes.

The word slut is used as a slang term in the BDSM, polyamorous, and gay and bisexual communities.^[13] With BDSM, polyamorous, and non-monogamous people, in usage taken from the book The Ethical Slut, the term has been used as an expression of choice to openly have multiple partners, and revel in that choice: "a slut is a person of any gender who has the courage to lead life according to the radical proposition that sex is nice and pleasure is good for you."^[14] A slut is a person who has taken control of their sexuality and has sex with whomever they choose, regardless of religious or social pressures or conventions to conform to a straight-laced monogamous lifestyle committed to one partner for life. The term has been "taken back" to express the rejection of the concept that government, society, or religion may judge or control one's personal liberties, and the right to control one's own sexuality.

The British journalist Katharine Whitehorn wrote a famous 1963 article applying this meaning in The Observer:^[15] "Have you ever taken anything out of the dirty-clothes basket because it had become, relatively, the cleaner thing? Changed stockings in a taxi? Could you try on clothes in any shop, any time, without worrying about your underclothes? How many things are in the wrong room—cups in the study, boots in the kitchen? ... [this makes] you one of us: the miserable, optimistic, misunderstood race of sluts." This article prompted a flurry of correspondence, with many women writing in to describe their own acts of sluttishness.

Similarly, British author Helen Fielding used the word in her Bridget Jones series to refer to slovenly or dirty habits, in the original sense still occasionally used in England: "Check plates and cutlery for tell-tale signs of sluttish washing up [...]"^[16]

American comedian Margaret Cho summoned the stance of slut pride and the idea of a slut pride parade in one of her stand-up performances, "And I went through this whole thing, you know. I was like: Am I gay? Am I straight? And I realized, I'm just slutty. Where's my parade?", pleading, "What about slut pride?"^[17]

Another example of the non-pejorative usage is in the song Slut Like You by Pink.

See also

• Non-monogamy
• Polyandry
• Rake (character)
• Rush Limbaugh–Sandra Fluke controversy
• Sexual bullying
• Slut shaming

References

External links

Look up slut in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Random House, The Word Maven's Word of the Day: "Slut"